Social Cognitive Theory Flashcards
Social Cognitive Theory
Developed by Albert Bandura Mr. “Bobo Doll” Theory explains why children sometimes do imitate model sometimes do NOT imitate model Formerly called: Social Learning Theory Originally supposed to be straightforward application of Skinner to children’s social development
Non-Skinnerian Aspects of Theory
Introduced almost immediately
E.g. Observational learning
Has no place in Skinner’s oper cond theory
Important for explaining human social behavior
Gradually added more non-Skinnerian stuff
All additions involved cognition
Judgment/decision/thinking about behavior of self and others
Includes deciding whether to imitate the model
Factors Influencing whether you Imitate a Model
Characteristics of the Model Nurturance Example from Bobo doll study Power/authority/competence Similarity (to self) Consistency between model’s word & deed
Characteristics of the Observer (Child/Adult)
Personal goals
More likely to imitate if believe that doing so will help you reach your personal goals
Thus we want to promote socially desirable personal goals
Self-efficacy
More likely to imitate if believe that your attempt to imitate will be successful
Thus we want to promote feelings of self-efficacy
Where do personal goals come from?
Past experience being successful or rewarded for a certain type of activity
E.g., doing well in school or sports
Leads you to expect to do well & be rewarded in future
From observing models
Beyond observing their specific actions, we can infer their goals & the beliefs and values related to those goals
Discussion/explanation by socializing agents
Parents, teachers, others (including models)
Where does self-efficacy come from?
Parent responsiveness
Parents who respond to your needs and encourage/help you achieve your goals
Messages from larger environment
E.g., from media (movies, videos, magazines, TV)
E.g., “Girls are bad at math”
Social Comparison
Direct: Compare own performance to performance of another person
Indirect: Compare person-like-me’s performance to that of another person
How to promote self-efficacy
Provide graded mastery experiences Like Vygotsky’s scaffolding Model relevant skills, strategies E.g., model persistence, sustained effort Social persuasion Expressing faith in child’s capabilities But be realistic Help build resources to support child’s efforts Reduce stress & depression Increase health
Intrinsic Reinforcement
Another important concept from social cognitive theory Defined as Self-reinforcement Reward that comes from self-approval E.g., pride at achieving a personal goal
Gender Role Development
Gender role: Includes attitudes, values, behaviors associated with one gender more than the other
Varies across cultures and historical eras
Produced mostly through socialization
Biological influences less important and somewhat controversial
Original SLT View of Gender Role Learning
Children develop gender-appropriate values, attitudes, behaviors via
Reinforcement
E.g., Girls consistently reinforced for female-appropriate values, attitudes, behaviors
Thought to be consistent within the society
Everyone reinforces gender-appropriate behavior
Same-gender imitation
Reflects tendency to imitate “similar” models
Special tendency to imitate same-gender parent
Fagot’s Study
Researcher = Beverly Fagot (“Fah-GO”)
Natural observation of preschool children
Observed each child for a fixed time-interval
Recorded and categorized each action as
Boy-typical (E.g. ??)
Girl-typical (E.g., ??)
Neutral (E.g.,??)
Used categorization system from study of slightly older children
Also recorded others’ responses to child’s action
Who responded? (Teacher, Boy-peer, Girl-peer)
Type of response (Reinforcement, punishment, neutral)
Also determined whether child’s gender-typical behavior increased or decreased following reinforcement/punishment
Teachers did NOT reinforce boys’ gender-typical behavior
In fact, they tended to punish it
Why?
Boys did NOT decrease their gender-typical behavior
Ignored the teachers’ punishment
Peers DID reinforce boys’ gender-typical behavior
How?
Boys were responsive to peer reinforcement
Increased gender-typical behavior after receiving reinforcement from peers
Does this also happen with girls?
Conclusions: Reinforcement does occur Reinforcement not entirely consistent Some DON’T reinforce gender-typical behavior Children don’t respond equivalently to any and all reinforcements they receive Respond to some & ignore others Can depend on who reinforces what behavior is being reinforced
Implications: Cognition plays an important role Children “decide” whether and how to respond to reinforcement Can ignore it Unlike rats/pigeons
Perry & Bussel’s Same Gender Imitations
Study by Perry & Bussey Grade 2 children 3 Step Procedure Step 1 Children shown 8 different models Models choose from pairs of pictures E.g., apple vs. orange; horse vs. cow Pictures are gender-neutral Purpose: to establish gender-typicality of each model
3 males & 1 female model always choose the same thing
E.g., they all choose the apple, the horse, etc
Children are supposed to infer that
The 3 males are “male-typical models”
The 1 female is a “female-atypical model”
3 females & 1 male always choose the same
E.g., all choose the orange, cow, etc
Children are supposed to infer that
The 3 females are “female-typical models”
The 1 male is a “male-atypical model”
Step 2 Each child participant sees ONE of the models making more choices Model is either Male typical Male atypical Female typical Female atypical Note that participants are of both sexes
Step 3
Child now gets to choose pictures
Shown exactly the same pictures that model saw in Step 2
Thus child can now either
Imitate the Step 2 model (choose same pictures)
Not imitate (choose randomly or according to own preference)
Anti-imitate (choose opposite pictures
Same-gender imitation occurred but only when child saw one of the “typical” same-gender models
Girls imitated gender-typical girl models
Boys imitated gender-typical boy models
Girls otherwise didn’t imitate the model but didn’t anti-imitate either
Boys otherwise
Didn’t imitate either type of girl models
Anti-imitated gender-atypical boy models
